Chesterfield Police report uptick in certain neighborhood crime

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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. - Police have a warning about a spike in a particular crime.

Over the last few weeks, police in Chesterfield said they have been called to investigate thefts from cars parked in the county. While police admit the crime occurs all year long, they said an uptick generally happens during summer months.

The good news, police said, is the crime is pretty preventable. Most of the time victims simply left their car door unlocked and left valuable stuff inside.

"Take anything of value out of their cars," Chesterfield Police Lt. Steven Grohowski advised. "Put it in their trunk. The actual keys to the car, we're finding people leaving them in there."

Police said thefts from cars is up three to five percent right now. Most of the crimes, more than 70 percent, happen in neighborhoods.

The most recent crime happened in the Watermill neighborhood off Powhite Parkway. In that neighborhood someone broke into 14 vehicles and stole more than $600 worth of valuables.